Chapter 98: Activate

“Heavens, something that even the Soul Devouring Beast is afraid of? Gao Yu, just what kind of secret he fellow hiding?”

“It’s all thanks to Gao Yu, Gao Yu’s the one who turned the tide around!”

Outside the valley, the girls of Water Moon Sect and those of Crimson Flame Association were all looking in terror at the demon apparition floating above Gao Yu’s head. They were so frightened they had fallen on their butts, and their teeth chattered as they discussed about it.

Currently, Gao Yu was without a doubt the center of attention, and everyone thought of him as a key figure.

In their eyes, it was Gao Yu’s presence that had suppressed the Soul Devouring Beast, intimidating it enough that it didn’t dare to act rashly or attempt to kill anyone.

Even Liang Zhong himself felt a sliver of gratitude towards Gao Yu—the Soul Devouring Beast had exhausted him so much that he was on the brink of collapsing.

It was because Gao Yu had let out the demon mirage that the Soul Devouring Beast’s true body had stopped its crazy attacks on him and allowed him a breather.

“That Qin Lie something doesn’t seem to have any use at all? Why did the people from Dark Asura Hall bring such a person over?”

“No idea. I don’t think he’s useful as well; he’s just a burden.”

“Yeah, Mister Liang had even placed great expectations on him earlier, saying that he will summon heavenly lightning from the sky or something. Unfortunately, nothing happened. How hilarious, they’ve all made a mistake.”

“Yeah, it was a mistake. Qin Lie was expected to play an important role, but he did nothing. Instead, it was that Gao Yu who had such a terrifying card hidden!”

“Gao Yu’s future is limitless! With such a vile soul sealed inside his body, his accomplishments in the future will be unimaginable. We’ll have to pay attention to him from now on!”

Many people outside the valley stared at Gao Yu and poured praises on him, and when they talked about Qin Lie, all of their faces were filled with disdain.

The girls from Water Moon Sect, including Na Nuo, were all staring bright-eyed at Gao Yu.

As for Qin Lie, he had been completely forgotten by them.

“I-I’m getting out of the valley first.”

However, Gao Yu, the person who everyone’s hopes were riding on, while unconsciously screaming and clutching his own head, had suddenly started to stagger away with a deathly pale face, attempting to leave the valley.

The demon mirage floated above his head and followed the direction he was moving in.

The other vile soul formed from the Soul Devouring Beast’s soul fragment above their heads also retreated continuously when it saw the demon mirage moved, as if it was afraid that it would anger the other party if it blocked the other’s path.

“Where are you going?”

“Gao Yu!”

“Don’t move!”

Everyone panicked when they saw Gao Yu heading outside and quickly yelled at him. They were all trying to stop him to get him to stay inside the valley.

Gao Yu was everyone’s only hope of having that even scarier demon mirage to stay inside the valley, so it would continue to intimidate the Soul Devouring Beast.

Unfortunately, Gao Yu was completely deaf to the crowd’s cries. He could only hear an urgent voice that reached deep into his soul: Leave as quickly as you can! Leave Qin Lie! Get out of the valley!

Gao Yu could feel that this huge demon apparition that had suddenly appeared was formed from the memory fragments inside the Ogre-faced Rings. It did not have the slightest bad intention towards him.

He could even vaguely sense that the huge demon mirage’s urgency was for his own good...

Gao Yu was originally an extremely selfish person, and he couldn’t care less about Dark Asura Hall’s duty or the threat of the Soul Devouring Beast.

From his point of view, as long as he could survive, no matter how many people the Soul Devouring Beast killed, it had nothing to do with him.

Therefore, after deciding for a bit, he chose to believe his own feelings and ignored the crowd’s calls. With that, he droned out the frantic yells as he resolutely walked out of the valley.

The moment he left the valley, that terrifying demon apparition floating above his head suddenly shrunk back into his body and instantly disappeared.

The urgent voices that had reached into his soul suddenly disappeared. He probed around carefully, but could not detect even a trace of the giant demon.

It was as if the huge demon had expended too much energy to appear as a shadow. It was as if it could no longer keep it up and had no choice but to hibernate again.

“Crack!”

The jade inside Xie Jingxuan’s hands suddenly broke apart, and that crimson droplet of Vermillion Bird Blood had also vanished into nothingness.

She opened her eyes.

“Just a bit more! It needs only a little more!”

Xie Jingxuan’s gaze was dejected, and while she grit her teeth and exclaimed that in a low tone, she suddenly stood up.

Within the valley, the lines of ravines burned with blazing fire, and the crimson red stone pillars also released streams of flames that connected with the fire inside the ravines.

She had almost ignited all the fire sources with the flames she drew out of the Vermillion Bird’s Blood. But at the last moment, because the vile souls broke through all of the light shields and she had to hurriedly wake up to deal with the enemy, she panicked, lost control, and failed to activate a portion of the Vermillion Bird Blood. This resulted in the remaining three Sunshine Stones inside the ravines to not be ignited by the Vermillion Bird Blood.

Because of this, the Eight Extreme Trigram Fire Formation could not unleash its full power.

“Milady! Milady!”

“Miss!”

When she woke up, Ban Hong and Liang Zhong’s expressions relaxed as they all looked excitedly at her.

Xie Jingxuan, wearing a Blackscale Armor and covering her face with a mask, shook her head slightly amidst their gazes. “It was a bit off. The Eight Extreme Trigram Fire Formation could not be activated in its entirety. I hope these flames will be enough.”

While she was saying that, a bright light shone out of her clear eyes.

Rows of rainbow-like light flew out of her body and sank into the stone pillars nearby.

One by one, the crimson red stone pillars suddenly experienced a powerful wave of spirit energy, and as if the valley’s thick nature spirit energy had been awakened, the waves of spirit energy began to flow along with the fire stream, both enhancing the flames and causing all of the fires to burn even more fiercely.

The Soul Devouring Beast’s true body and vile souls began to struggle in unison. It was as if it had felt a flame that was specifically geared to purify them which instantly locked down the entire valley.

“Uncle Zhong, take these people away from the valley!” Xie Jingxuan said coldly.

“Understood.” Liang Zhong quickly acted.

Xie Jingxuan’s body shuddered slightly. It was like she had expended too much energy in a short period of time and would not be able to recover for a while, but she quickly readjusted herself, carried two Dark Asura Hall generals, and quickly flew out of the valley.

The entire valley was currently raging with flames that reached up to the sky, and every corner was blazing with fire. The blazing clumps of fire were like an enchanted boundary that had sealed even the skies, and it was so hot that it was completely unbearable.

The Soul Devouring Beast’s true body and soul fragments howled in madness amidst the thick flames, and they slowly moved closer to each other.

Both Xie Jingxuan and Liang Zhong were moving quickly, and after grabbing the Dark Asura Hall generals, regardless of whether or not they were alive, the two transported them outside the valley.

He noticed that both Xie Jingxuan and Liang Zhong’s first priority of rescue were all Dark Asura Hall men, not leaving even the dead behind.

And Qin Lie, still sitting at the same spot with his entire body shaking like he was trapped in a nightmare, wasn’t paid any attention by them and was not evacuated.

The fire inside the valley grew fiercer and fiercer. It was as if the entire valley was burning, and the blazing heat was too much, even for Tu Ze and the others who were outside the valley, so they had no choice but to retreat.

Tu Ze, Zhuo Qian, and Kang Zhi were all worried for Qin Lie as they screamed again and again outside the valley. They were afraid that Xie Jingxuan and Liang Zhong would forget Qin Lie or leave him behind because there wasn’t enough time, resulting in him to be burned to ashes by the terrific fire.

“Be quiet!”

Liang Zhong snapped once and finally grabbed both Qin Lie and the corpse of a member of Dark Asura Hall. Having done that, he headed outside the valley through a unique path and rushed out together with Xie Jingxuan.

Once they were outside of the valley, the fiery eruptions sounded out, one after another. Many fiery stone pillars had detonated, causing the power of the Eight Extreme Trigram Fire Formation to be even more terrifying.

“Gao Yu! What is wrong with you?” Once Qin Lie was brought out, Tu Ze breathed a sigh of relief and immediately glared at Gao Yu. “If you had stayed inside the valley for a little while longer, you would have eased some of the pressure on them. What the hell are you doing?”

“Gao Yu, why did you suddenly leave the valley?” Liang Zhong also asked.

The limp Ban Hong on the ground, the Dark Asura Hall generals, the people from Water Moon Sect and Crimson Flame Association, and even Xie Jingxuan were all looking towards Gao Yu with reproach in their eyes.

Under everyone’s gaze, Gao Yu’s own was dark, and with a stiff expression, he abruptly walked towards another direction.

He had followed the demon mirage’s words get as far away from Qin Lie as possible, so after Qin Lie had exited the valley, he chose to distance himself from Qin Lie again.

He didn’t know what was hidden in Qin Lie’s body, and he didn’t know what would happen either, but he knew that it would be harmful to him, so that was why he left.

He ignored everyone else’s doubts, suspicions, and inquires.

“That guy is such a weird dude, what the hell is his problem?”

“It’s like there’s poison on our bodies. What is he hiding from?”

“There is a demon hiding in his body, so his disposition is also… it is as strange as you might as expect it to be. It’s better if we stay away from him.”

The crowd whispered amongst themselves, and the gazes they threw in Gao Yu’s direction were very odd. But they were also slightly wary of him because, all in all, none of them dared to do anything to him.

This included Liang Zhong and the others from Dark Asura Hall. They were also a bit wary of Gao Yu; afraid that they would provoke that thing’s emergence and cause undue trouble.

“That is the Demon God’s shadow.” Xie Jingxuan stared at Gao Yu. “The spirit art he’s cultivating and the rings on his fingers are both extraordinary. Luckily... luckily this is only the shadow of a Demon God, and luckily his realm is too low and cannot truly summon it. Otherwise...”

She did not continue, but fear could be seen in Liang Zhong and the Dark Asura Hall generals’ eyes.

“The Demon God’s shadow? What’s that?” Xiong Ba scratched his head with a baffled look. “Never heard of it, but it sounds like it’s pretty strong. Even the Soul Devouring Beast is afraid of it.”

“Zhuo Qian, do you know anything about it?” Tu Ze could not help but ask when he saw her expression changed.

“I’m not sure. Let’s check out Qin Lie’s condition first.” Zhuo Qian’s expression was also very unnatural, as if she had heard about the Demon God’s shadow before. She did not elaborate any further and instead knelt down beside Qin Lie, calling out to him softly, “Qin Lie, how are you doing? Can you hear what I’m saying? Qin Lie…”

She called out again and again, but unfortunately there was no reaction from Qin Lie at all. It seemed that he could not hear her.

Tu Ze and the others were also getting anxious as they surrounded Qin Lie and softly called out to him, hoping to wake him up from his trance.

“Miss, that Eight Extreme Trigram Fire Formation… can it really purify that Soul Devouring Beast to death completely? Liang Zhong’s expression returned to normal, and as he watched the continuously eruptions in the canyon he asked worriedly.

“Five of our brothers have died. If we still can’t destroy the Soul Devouring Beast, then they will have died for nothing.” Ban Hong sighed.

“I don’t know either.” Xie Jingxuan shook her head slightly. “It could have purified it to death, but the formation cannot unleash its full power now, it may not be possible.”

The way she put it made everyone anxious, and they all looked towards the valley, eyes filled with gloom.